WILL WOLVES HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR WAYS?
Predictable Nuno outfoxed by Gracia
For THE first time this season, Nuno Espirito Santo will give serious consideration to changing a Wolves team that has been unaltered for nine matches.
Predicting the Wolves line-up has been as easy as counting to 11 during a glorious return to life in the Premier League. But Saturday’s dishevelled display against Watford prompts reflection.
Nuno wondered aloud whether complacency had afflicted his regular starters and at training today he will scrutinise the reactions, searching for clues.
He might also accept that Watford played a very good game and those players who have got Wolves to this stage deserve a chance to rectify matters at Brighton on Saturday.
It is a mark of the impression Wolves have made in the Premier League that Watford arrived at Molineux with a bespoke plan to unsettle them. Javi Gracia told his players to target the midfield axis of ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho, to disrupt the beating heart of Nuno’s side, and spread discord among the defence.
only two of the players in Gracia’s starting line-up appeared for their countries during the international break, so he had had a fortnight since the 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth to perfect the plan. For the first time this season, Wolves walked off the pitch genuinely as the worse team.
Watford struck twice inside a minute in the first half and were then compact against the Wolves surge in the second. Etienne Capoue’s 25-yard strike was deliciously crisp and roberto Pererya’s finish to round off a slick attack was smart indeed. Wolves fell apart in that period, but Watford needed precision and courage to take advantage. Will Hughes was instrumental and the 23-year-old must be close to recognition from Gareth Southgate.
Watford even had Troy Deeney missing through a hamstring injury but in his place moved Gerard Deulofeu, starting his first match since May. Watford’s attacking unit carried a fluency of movement that Wolves struggled to contain.
‘That is what the manager taught the whole week,’ Deulofeu said. ‘We have to find the spaces between Moutinho and Neves and we did that really well.
‘It was a lot of work. That type of result against Bournemouth can’t happen again so the next day we came together, spoke, and trained these two weeks really well.’
Wolves upped the tempo in the second half and looked more like their usual selves even if Ben Foster was rarely troubled. Nuno made three changes yet kept the 3-4-3 system that is as recognisably Wolves as the animal on their crest. It meant three central defenders on the pitch at the end but Conor Coady insisted that even when chasing a game Wolves would stick to the same shape. ‘I think if you start changing it gets worse,’ he said. ‘We are not really used to playing other formations. We stick to what we know.
‘We weren’t at the races first half, simple as that. We have to work even harder and put a lot of things right.’
WOLVES (3-4-3): Patricio 6; Bennett 6, Coady 6, Boly 5.5; Doherty 6.5 (Traore 72min, 5.5), Moutinho 6, Neves 6, Jonny 5 (Vinagre 46, 6); Costa 7, Jimenez 5 (Cavaleiro 60, 6.5), Jota 5. Subs not used: Ruddy, Saiss, Hause, Bonatini. Booked: Neves, Jota, Bennett. Manager: Nuno Espirito Santo 6.5. WATFORD (4-2-3-1): Foster 7; Femenia 7, Mariappa 7, Cathcart 7, Masina 7; Doucoure 7.5, CAPOUE 8; Deulofeu 7.5 (Gray 69, 6.5), Hughes 7.5, Pereyra 7.5; Success 7.5 (Prodl 75, Wilmot 88). Subs not used: Gomes, Sema, Quina, Navarro. Scorers: Capoue 20, Pereyra 21. Booked: Hughes. Manager: Javi Gracia 8 Referee: Lee Mason 5. Attendance: 31,144.